Preventing collisions between birds and aircraft poses major challenges for airports. To combat this problem, various techniques are proposed: distress calls, bangs, mirrors and laser beams. Laser beams may be used by bird control staff using a manual operated laser torch but also using a system which automatically moves a laser beam in certain area. The use of laser beams can be effective in reducing the risk of collisions between birds and aircraft, but also introduces a new risk: the risk of shining the laser beam into the cockpit of the aircraft or on airport staff thereby blinding the pilots and staff. In order to safely make the use of laser beams in an airport environment US20110144829 provides an unmanned, semi-autonomous mobile robot that operates in airport surroundings. The robot is programmed to operate a laser device that has a safety control system. The laser automatically stops when an irradiation angle of the laser is at a reference angle or more. The reference angle may be determined to be an angle that prevents interference with the sight of a pilot caused by a high irradiation of the laser for the bird repellent. The system is dependent on detailed topography recognition for execution the unmanned robot. A problem associated with the prior art based deterrence systems is that the control and management is complex and error prone. For instance, the system will stop functioning, when a communication error occurs.
Another prior art system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,714. This system provides for sectorwise scanning with a light beam to disturb animals in their nocturnal nesting. A laser swath defines a lateral angle alpha to cover an area to be protected. Also, the laser swath may be placed at a certain pitch relative to its support surface to cover the subject area with focused light at a certain elevation beta. While it is known to cover certain sectors with scanning beam devices, it has been found that the effectiveness of the deterrence may still be improved. To this end, a new and improved scanning system is proposed, wherein the area of interest can be easily input, and wherein the scanning behavior of the laser beam significantly contributes in the deterrence of the animals.